Scientists discover remains of swamp monster in Texas

The skull is thought to be over 200 million years old. According to a study done on the priceless find, the skull belonged to a beastly creature which hid out in the swamps of West Texas during the Triassic period. The species is believed to be around 17-foot or 5.2 meters long, having a 2-foot or 0.6 meter snout.

Researchers claim that the fossils of the creature are from a brand new species never before discovered by man. It is said to be an unknown kind of Phytosaur, which is extinct but at one point in time hunted fish, with its primary preying spots being near shallow edges of rivers, lakes, and other small bodies of water.

“They had basically the same lifestyle as the modern crocodile, by living in and around the water, eating fish, and whatever animals came to the margins of the rivers and lakes,” study researcher Bill Mueller, assistant curator of paleontology at the Museum of Texas Tech University, said in a statement.

Paleontologists have decided to name the new find Machaeroprosopus lottorum after the Lott family, which were in possession of the Texas Panhandle ranch during the time when the skulls were found in 2001.

“We found them in an area we’d been excavating in,” Mueller said, “I think we’ve gotten four skulls out of that area already. Doug Cunningham found this specimen, and then we dug it up. When he found it, just the very back end of the skull was sticking out of the ground. The rest was buried. We excavated it and brought it into the museum to finish preparation.”

Two skulls were found, though one of them labeled as male was not well kept. However, a couple of weeks down the road another skull was unearthed and believed to be that of a female.

“It was really well preserved with the teeth and everything,” Doug Cunningham, field research assistant at the Museum of Texas Tech University and co-author of the study, said, “Finding one with teeth is pretty rare. It was so odd, but when they come out of the ground, you have a long way to go to actually see what you have because they’re still covered in matrix. We were all kind of in awe of it. It had this long, skinny snout. It was quite a bit different. It took me years to get it prepped and ready. At the time, I was working full-time and I did that on my days off.”

The creatures were found in the Cooper Canyon formation in Garza, County, Texas. In the here and now, the area is dry but, back in the Triassic times, there was a forest and lake where the species did their hunting. The scientists’ discovery has been published in the journal Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

Voice of Russia, Techtimes.com

The Voice of Russia, News

Scientists discover remains of swamp monster in Texas

Archaeologists Discover 5000 Year Old Egyptian Artifacts That Came From Space

This may be old news to some, but for many it wont be. A study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science in December of 2013 found that the earliest known (according to the study) iron artifacts that date back to circa 3200 BC, from two burials in northern Egypt were made from meteoritic iron, and shaped by careful hammering of the metal.(1) After hammering pieces into thin sheets before being rolled into tubes, the nine beads that were found were originally strung into a necklace with other materials like gold and gemstones. This discovery reveals the value of these materials in ancient times. It also reveals that in the fourth millennium BC, metal workers had mastered the smithing of meteoritic iron, well before what was previously thought.

The beads were excavated in 1911, found in a cemetery, and are believed to be the earliest known iron artifacts. A total of nine beads were retrieved, and the necklace beads were found in their original order.  Since both tombs securely date back  to Naqada, 3400-3100 BC, the beads predate the emergence of iron smelting by nearly 2000 years, and other known meteoritic iron artefacts by 500 years or more.

Professor Thilo Rehren from Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar was the lead author of the paper. They used x-ray methods to determine whether the 5,000 year old beads were actually meteoric iron, and not magnetite, which can often be mistaken to be corroded iron due to similar properties.

“The really exciting outcome of this research is that we were for the first time able to demonstrate conclusively that there are typical trace elements such as cobalt and germanium present in the beads, at levels that only occur in meteoritic iron. We are also excited to be able to see the internal structure of the beads, revealing how they were rolled and hammered into form. This is very different technology from the usual stone bead drilling, and shows quite an advanced understanding of how the metal smiths worked this rather difficult material” – Professor Rehren

There is a lot of mystery surrounding Egypt, but the fact that they made cosmic jewelery is pretty cool. We don’t often reflect on just how advanced civilizations were in these times. Even today, how the pyramids were built, the mathematical precision and the astronomical alignments that correlate with them are astonishing. If we wanted to do something like that today, even with all of our technology, it would still be almost impossible to recreate. There is a lot of evidence to suggest that these ancient civilizations were much more advanced than we are. I find it quite amusing that they knew that the Earth was round, before we even believed it to be flat!

Ancient Egyptians were fascinated with the sky, and according to Joyce Tyldesley, who co-authored a study on the same findings that was published in the journal Meteoritics and Planetary Science, “the sky was very important to the ancient Egyptians, something that falls from the sky is going to be considered as a gift from the gods.” (2)

While we are on the topic of meteorites, just a year earlier a group of scientists claimed with certainty that tiny fossils uncovered inside a meteorite found in Sri Lanka in late December 2012, are proof of extraterrestrial life. The paper was published in the Journal of Cosmology by Chandra Wickramasinghe, the director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham in the United Kingdom. The study was conducted alongside researchers at the School of Mathematics at Cardiff University and from the Medical Research Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Obviously, the study is surrounded by much controversy, you can read more about that and view the study here.

Earlier this year, a group of scientists claimed with certainty that tiny fossils uncovered inside a meteorite found in Sri Lanka in late December 2012, are proof of extraterrestrial life. A paper was published in the Journal of Cosmology (1)(3) by Chandra Wickramasinghe. Wickramasinghe is the director of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology at the University of Buckingham in the U.K. The study was conducted alongside researchers at the School of Mathematics at Cardiff University and from the Medical Research Institute in Colombo, Sri Lanka. – See more at: http://www.collective-evolution.com/2013/09/16/extraterrestrial-fossils-uncovered-inside-meteorite-found-in-sri-lanka/#sthash.f8ZWevQe.dpuf

Sources:

(1) http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440313002057

(2) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/maps.12120/full

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/05/130531-egyptian-bead-meteorite-jewelry-science–gerzeh/

http://phys.org/news/2013-08-earliest-iron-artifacts-outer-space.html

Collective-Evolution

Archaeologists Discover 5000 Year Old Egyptian Artifacts That Came From Space

Special Report: Discover the REAL Nelson Mandela

RELATED: Mandela Love Fest Ignores Dark Side of Legacy

Infowars.com
December 7, 2013

Nelson Mandela, working with the Soviet Union, wanted to replace Apartheid tyranny with a Marxist dictatorship. He and his followers hijacked the Anti-Apartheid Movement in an attempt to bring communism to South Africa.

He was a member of the South African Communist Party and a co-founder of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress which targeted civilians.

On Dec. 5, Mandela died at the age of 95:

This article was posted: Saturday, December 7, 2013 at 1:57 pm

---

---

  Print this page.

---

---

Infowars

Special Report: Discover the REAL Nelson Mandela

Archaeologists Discover 20,000 ‘Lost Souls of Bedlam’ Under London Streets

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

By April Halloway
Ancient Origins
August 9, 2013

Established in 1247, the notorious Bethlem (“Bedlam”) Royal Hospital was the first dedicated psychiatric institution in Europe and possibly the most famous specialist facility for care and control of the insane, so much so that the word ‘bedlam’ has long been synonymous with madness and chaos.

Now, in a spectacular discovery, archaeologists have uncovered the asylum’s ancient graveyard right in the heart of London, revealing as many as 20,000 skeletons.

The 500-year-old graveyard was found during excavations to create a 13-mile high speed tunnel under Central London.  Modern-day residents and visitors going about their busy daily lives have been oblivious to the fact that below them, under what is now Liverpool Street Station, the remains of thousands of Londoners including many patients from the Bedlam asylum were laid to rest.

“Everyone’s been running around in Liverpool Street for years and not thinking that they’ve been walking around on bodies from one of the densest burial grounds in London,” said Nick Elsden, a Museum of London archaeologist.

The 16^th-century burial ground was built on the original site of the Bethlem Hospital and as well as serving the hospital itself, it was also used to relieve the pressure from overcrowded cemeteries throughout London.  It was particularly associated with religious non-conformists, as it was not attached to a church. One of the more famous individuals thought to be buried there is Robert Lockyer, a member of the radical Leveller movement, who was executed by firing squad at St Paul’s Cathedral after leading an army mutiny in 1649. Archaeologists are hoping to find his remains amongst the 20,000 other individuals buried there.

The remains of around 4,000 people will have to be disinterred, and will be studied for clues about their lifestyle before being reburied elsewhere.

But thousands of bodies are not the only items to have been recovered from the dig. Incredibly, archaeologists have found everything from reindeer and mammoth bones dating back 68,000 years to a Mesolithic tool-making facility, numerous 2,000-year-old horseshoes, an entire stretch of Roman road, the remains of a Tudor manor house, medieval ice skates, an 800-year-old piece of a ship, and rare Roman coins.

‘This site is a rare, perhaps unprecedented opportunity,’ Mr Elsden said. ‘This is a major roadway outside one of London’s busiest railway stations. You don’t get to dig that up normally.’

Intellihub.com

Archaeologists Discover 20,000 ‘Lost Souls of Bedlam’ Under London Streets